The number of pharmacies in the United States is quite large, and continues to grow. These pharmacies range in size and sophistication from very large pharmacies that employ robotic devices to fill prescriptions in an almost entirely automated fashion to relatively small pharmacies that employ manual methods to fill prescriptions. In between these extremes, thousands of pharmacies also employ a number of semi-automated prescription filling mechanisms. Filling prescriptions inherently includes counting the number of pills to be issued to ensure that the number of pills prescribed is matched. This counting may be done manually or automatically in corresponding ones of the aforementioned prescription filling mechanisms.
In manual counting, a pharmacist or assistant (a dispensing agent) reviews a prescription, finds the corresponding stock bottle, pours a number of units from the stock bottle, typically onto a specially-configured tray, then counts out the prescribed number of units, decanting these into a receiver bottle and returning any remaining units to the stock bottle. The receiver bottle is labeled with appropriate information, such as the prescriber's name, the name and dosage of the prescription, usage instructions, dates, and the like. This procedure is comparatively slow, and can be cumbersome.
Weighing or counting scales can quicken dispensing while providing an accurate count. Such scales may, for example, use a reference weight to determine a count of pills or units of medication that are located on the scale. While generally accurate and faster than manual processes under some circumstances, a counting scale may not necessarily have any inherent provision for determining whether the pills or units disposed on the scales are actually the correct types of pills for filling the prescription. Moreover, pill counting scales rely upon having accurate pill weight information, but the actual pill weights often vary due to various causes.
Other counting systems, such as optical beam pour through systems, also referred to as tablet counters, may employ troughs and flow regulation to direct units past an optical detector, which counts the units as they slide past. Such devices, although they are employing vision based counting techniques, are not generally further employed to determine whether the pills counted are the correct pills. Thus, it may be desirable to improve automated, or semi-automated prescription filling devices to add a verification ability to ensure that the correct medication is being dispensed.